Tasker was part of an eight-man team (with Alan Rouse, John Porter, Brian Hall, Adrian Burgess, Alan Burgess, Pete Thexton and Paul Nunn) attempting to make a difficult winter assault on the West Face of Mount Everest; this was unsuccessful but was recounted in Tasker's first book Everest the Cruel Way. In 1980, Tasker met Maria Coffey, the girlfriend who would write about her grief following his death in her book Fragile Edge. In 1981, he was part of the British team which made the first ascent of Kongur Tagh (7,649 m) in China, accompanied by Chris Bonington, Peter Boardman and Alan Rouse. He disappeared with Boardman on 17 May 1982 on the North-East Ridge of Everest. The body of Boardman was found in 1992, resting in a sitting position just past the second pinnacle in the extremely difficult area of the "Three Pinnacles" on the middle North-East Ridge of Everest, but the body of Tasker is still missing, although some of his climbing equipment was found between the second and third pinnacles. Tasker had delivered his manuscript for his second book, Savage Arena, which recounted his climbing life from the 1960s-1980, on the eve of his departure for the British Everest expedition in 1982. The book was published posthumously later that year. The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature was founded in memory of Tasker and Boardman and was first awarded in 1983. See also List of people who died climbing Mount Everest References External links Dick Renshaw's Obituary of Tasker Voices from the Clarences Anne Davies interviews Joe Tasker, Joe Tasker slideshow & BBC Radio Cleveland's report of Joe Tasker's death 1948 births 1982 deaths 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers English mountain climbers English non-fiction writers Mountaineering deaths on Mount Everest Sport deaths in China Sportspeople from Kingston upon Hull